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to me the world championship itself must be contended from the very best of the best. if the lin dan itself fail to justify his presence at WC (in the other word, by its current form i dont think that he is able to beat Chen Long, Du Pengyu, Chen Jin, Wang Zhengming or even Gao Han) so be it. What matter most is the current performance.

I know what you mean but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Like you I don't rate Lin Dan's chances very high and actually place him below Lee CW and Chen Long in that order, and perhaps even behind one dark horse.

The important thing is for the eventual champion to emerge from among the best of the best which of course include the defending champion,regardless of his form.

The reason why I think Lee CW is the top contender with a slight edge over Chen Long is because it will be their third consecutive meeting and even Lin Dan didn't beat Lee CW more than 3 out of 4 times on average in a year, statistically speaking. That's what it appears to me on paper, needless to say, anything can still happen; remember WC 2010 won by Chen Jin.

I agree. I cannot imagine the "earthquake" in BC if BWF offer L D a wild card, and finally he wins the fifth titles in Guangzhou next August

this is one of the most interesting post in this thread so far, at least to my personal opinion.

but whether LD would be able to compete in WC or not, just wait for the truth later. no need to speculate now, just wasting energy typing all those posts. afterall, i think none of us can predict what CBA will or won't do?

I'm not too optimistic but realistically speaking, based on what I've gathered, CBA is being sensible and wise not to continue to be over-reliant on Lin Dan to deliver the goods. A while ago after Lin Dan returned to the national training centre, Li Yongbo has already openly said he does not set any goals for Lin Dan from then on - that casual remark should tell us something.

Furthermore, both LYB and LD as I've said have tacitly indicated they are unwilling to forgo two players to make way for LD, rightly so, which means since there's no wild card granted for LD so he's out of the WC. Unless you tell me what's reported in the news media cannot be taken at face value, that I'm inclined to agree though I'm just reading between the lines.

Nonetheless, I won't rule out the possibility of the big-time sponsors making a last-ditched effort to appeal to the BWF and at the same time persuade CBA to change their minds. Well, maybe we should listened to bad's fan's advice and just wait.

Lastly, it has come to my knowledge that for the 2014 Thomas/Uber Cups to be held in New Delhi, the host nation automatically gets a spot in the finals, not to mention the defending champion, China.

Off topic: The World Chess Championship Candidates just ended yesterday after 14 grueling rounds of play by eight super grandmasters in a double round-robin contest to see who emerges as the challenger for a world championship match against the reigning world champion. Note that the defending world champion didn't have to play in the candidates tournament at all, he simply fold his arms and wait for the candidates to 'kill' each other to see who gets the right to play him for the world title. In the end,my fave 22-yr-old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen qualified on tie-break (of more wins being decisively in his favour) from my other fave Russian Vladimir Kramnik.

Mind you,a multi-game chess match is a very tough mental contest that can take its physical toll. In the words of the late ex-world champion, Tigran Petrosian, a chess match which in his time comprised the best of 24 games can take a year off one's life !

To think BWF won't even grant the reigning world champion automatic qualification right when he still has to play round after round all the way to the final.

maybe we just need to face it, Justin. BWF maybe just can't take chess rules as part of their rules. even if BWF will do, i think we can't expect them to do it this year maybe?

still, LD still has that chance though. the only way left for him now is depend on CBA's decision (after monitoring his performance when he comeback i think?) afterall, even if i myself really want to see him in 2013 WC, the decision is not ours to make. so let's just wait and see what will happen, which players will compete for the title, and who will emerge as the WC in the end of battles.

Now LD has confirmed he accepted the wild card offered by Bwf, let's spectculate as how the draw going to work out. Assuming they will seperate players from the same country as most big t'ments always trying to do. CHN now has 4 MS in the draw, Chen Long and LCW will be in the opposite halve. The next 2 MS (DPY and WZM) will also be placed into opposite halve. Now CL's halve will have 2 MS from China and LCW with 1.

Here comes the bad news. It's only possible to place LD in LCW's halve otherwise we will have 3 Chn's players in the same halve.